Cbs Makes ‘Cronkite Remembers’ Available On Video

Few would disagree that Walter Cronkie was one of the nation’s great journalists. But he was much more than that.

He was not afraid to show his humanity on the air, a trait that helped earn him the title of “Most Trusted Man in America.”

We saw those human qualities often.

Those who were there will never forget Cronkite choking up on air as he reported the death of John F. Kennedy. And there was that joyous “Oh, boy” after learning that Apollo 11 had safely landed on the moon.

You can relive those moments and many more in “Cronkite Remembers,” which has been released by CBS Video at $19.98.

The 95-minute production originally aired on the CBS television network. It was one of those shows that halfway through its viewing, you say, “Darn, I wish I had taped this.” No doubt, CBS knew a lot of folks would feel that way, which is why the program is being made available on video.

There’s a bonus with the cassette: no commercials.

With Cronkite interjecting commentary along the way, the special begins with the newsman’s boyhood days in Missouri and Texas. It was during this period that Cronkite got his first small taste of journalism as a newsboy, selling papers on the street.

Cronkite recalls the day the newspaper carried headlines about the death of Warren G. Harding.

“I couldn’t wait to tell somebody else,” he says. “I guess that (the news bug) is where it began.”

During the 1940s, as a newspaper reporter and wire service correspondent, he covered many of the major battles of World War II. Cronkite joined CBS news in 1950 and covered many of the major stories of the decade, including the integration of Central High at Little Rock, Ark.

In 1962, he became the anchor for the “CBS Evening News,” a position he held until his “retirement” in 1981. His “And that’s the way it is” became one of the most recognized signoff phrases in television history.